Method of manufacturing frog points



H.'H. DIEHL METHOD OF MANUFACTURING FROG POINTS Original Filed Oct. l, 1925 Patented Aug. 11, 1925.

ETD TATES 1,549,351 :PA ENT OFFICE...

HERMAN H. olefin, ornwl rrnc'ron, WEST VliR-GINIA. ASSIGNOR TO THE VIRGINIA RAIL COMPANY; or HUNTINGTON, WEST vrBeI-NIA, A CORPORATION or WEST VIRGINIA.

METHOD E MANUFACTURING FROG POINTS.

Original application filed October 1, 1923, Serial No. 666,009. Divided and this application filed 135, 1924. Serial No. 713,578.

Toall whom it may concern:

Be, it known that I, HERMAN H. DIEHL,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Huntington, in the county of Cabell and State of. West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methodsof Manufacturing Frog Points, of Which the following. is a, specification My invention relates, more particularly, toi the points of frogs which comprise the portion thereof which presents. the angularly-disposed rail sections which converge toward, and terminate in, an apex or point, the; present application being a division of my application Serial No. 666,009, filed Oct. 1,1923, upon. which U. S. Letters: Patent #1 523,() O3 were granted Jan. 13, 1925.

Steel frog-points as hitherto constructed involve the bending and machining of certain portions of the rails used to form the frog-point, which are expensive operations to. perform, and furthermore the extreme apex portion of the frog-point, and which is subjected to verysevere stresses in use, due to impacts produced by the wheels of the vehicle traversing the frog, often becomes impaired and sometimes breaks, rendering the frog unsuited, if not unfit, for further use.

One of my objects. is to provide for the production of frog-points at less cost than hitherto possible; another object is to provide improvements in frog-points to the end that they will be better adapted to Withstand the stresses to which they are subjected in use, reducing to the minimum danger of impairment thereof whether by deformation, due to the pounding of the wheels against the apex portion of the frogpoi-nt; through breakage of the point by the action of the wheel, or the destruction of the point by reason of tl elooseness of its two component parts relatifvet'o each other whichfeature commonly results in the usual two-piece frog-point constructions; and other object's'as will be manifest from the following description.

Referring to the accompanying draw- 1ngs:

v Figure 1 is a plan View, with one end broken away, of the blank from which the frog-point shown in the drawings is produced, Figure 2 isa plan View of a frogpoint at a later stage in its manufacture.

Figure 4 is a plan SectiOnaLVieW of the. ingpoint, the section. being taken as represented at the line 4 on Fig. 5 and Viewed in the direction of the arrow. Figunet, is a section taken at the line 5-5 on Figs. 3 and and viewed in the directionof,thearrows. Figure 6 is a view like Fig, 5 of, the coin plete frog-point; and ,Figure 7,, asection taken at the line 7 on F ig, 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow} In practicing my improved method i'rithe preferred way, I form the frog-point from a; single section of steel rail of the desired gauge, the head of the-rail at opposite sides thereof, and one base flangeofftlie refus n cut away at points midway between the ends of the rail, as represented '10, ll a these cut-away portions each presentl converging surfaces, as..re resented, 14 and 1.5, respectively, chap-aims 'atfv ich, the converging surfaces 13 1 V terse'ct lying in the same plane transversely of. "the rail, and the surfaces 13 being. f vergent than the surfaces 14, as shown rail thus conditioned is .then bentattlie midway of itsilength in adir'ection to cause the surfaces 13 and 14 to 'ap other, respectively, and itsjend p T be divergent as, for example, as show Following the bending of; the an as stated, the Web. and head. portionsa'ndi outside flanges of the mu, are shbjec'tedfto an operation, preferably, a squeezing or swagin operation, for affording to the extre of the apex portion the desired. point forms-uni as that shown. in ,Figs', 3 andft ind deflecting the web-portions, head-portio and the outer flangesof the rail; to the position represented in Figs. and 4 whereinthe webportionsextend into close p oximity to each otheras shown, andthe space betweeh the opposing surfaces} 13 and 14, isectiielfy, 15

becomes closed. 'Ihes'urfaces 13,14; and

would be provided at such angles rela Ve to each other and to theplane ofltlie fa that when the rail is operated on as, the outer ends of the diverging the frog-point will extenn',.re1anvetc each other, a the desired fiili g-lik, Inftlie finished structure the outside vertical edges of the diverging head-portions of the frog at the apex portion of the frog-point will extend at the same angle as the body-portions of these rails and in the same lateral planes as the vertical outer surfaces of the heads of the rail portions of which they are continuations as shown in Fig. 3, and such shape is given to the structure by the operation above referred to. Also in the finished structure the outside edges of the outer flanges of the frog-point, at the apex portion of the frogpoint, are in line with the corresponding edges of these flanges in the rear of said apex portion, as shown in Figs. 3 and t, this being accomplished in any desirable way as, for example, by planing the edges of these flanges.

In accordance with the preferred way of producing the frog-point, the diverging rail portions thereof, at the apex portion of the frog-point, are united preferably by electrically arc-welding them at the joint therebetween. As shown in the drawings, this welding is provided only along the joint at the upper surface of the head portions of the frog-point, but it will be understood that where conditions render it desirable the joint between the opposing base flange portions of the frog-point may be welded together. Preliminary to the welding op eration referred to it is preferred that the metal at the opposite sides of the joint referred to be cut away, as represented at 16,

to provide a welding-flux-receiving channel at which the welding is to be effected. This channel which is preferably formed after bending the rail and shaping the bent rail as above stated, preferably extends throughout the length of this joint thus opening through the extremity of the apex of the frog-point as shown, and this is especially desirable where, in accordance with the preferred way of producing the frog-point, the flux employed is of manganese steel, inasmuch as thereby the finished frog-point is caused to present, throughout the portion thereof which is subjected to the greatest wearing stresses in use, a body of metal, represented at 17,. presenting high resistance to wear and breakage.

By manufacturing a frog-point'in accordance 'with my invention the structure may not only be more economically produced but it is capable of resisting to a high degree the stresses to which this .part of a frog-point are subjectedin use, it being noted that the diverging portions of the frog-point serve to reenforce each other, at the apex of the frog-point, against side blows which have a tendency to break off theapex portion thereof, but which breakage is prevented by the reenforcement referred", to. Furthermore, by providing the body of manganese steel at the upper surface of the apex of the frogpoint, this apexvportion is not only more re sistant to pounding stresses directed downwardly against it in use, but is rendered more rigid to resist side-blows.

In use my improved frog point may be provided either as a structure separate from the other parts of the frog and assembled with such other parts at the location of the frog in the track, in any suitable way, or connected with some or all of 'such other parts, as, for example, by a plate, to form a unit, to facilitate its application to, and removal from, the desired position in a track.

While I have described a particular method of forming the frog-point and have described a particular construction thereof,

I do not wish to be understood as intending" to limit the invention thereto, as variations in the manner of producing the frog-point may be practiced and the construction of the frog-point variously modified and al.- tered, without departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In the art of manufacturing frogpoints, the improvement which consists in providing a blank of the cross section of a railway rail with the head-portions of the blank at opposite sides thereof and the lower flange at one side thereof recessed between the ends of the blank, bending the blank at its reduced portion to cause its endportions to extend in outwardly diverging condition and thereafter welding the opposing portions of the head of the blank adjacent the apex portion of the structure.

2. In the art of manufacturing frogpoints, the improvement which consists in providing a blank of the cross section of a railway rail with the head-portions of the blank at opposite sides thereof and the lower flange at one side thereof recessed between the ends of the blank, bending the blank at its reduced portion to cause its end-portions to extend in outwardly diverging condition, forming a furrow along the upper surfaces of the apex portion of the structure at the joint between opposing head-portions of the blank, and there-after welding the structure along said furrow.

3. In the art of manufacturing frogpoints, the improvement which consists in providing a blank of the crosssection of a railway rail with the head-portions of the blank at opposite sides thereof and thelower flange at one side thereof recessed between the ends of the blank, bending theblan'k at its reduced portion to cause its end-portions to extend in outwardly diverging condition and thereafter welding the opposing portions of the head of the blank adja'cent the apex portion of the structure with a material more resistant to the forces'to which the frogpoint is subjected in use than the material composing the blank from which the frog-point is formed.

4. In the art of manufacturing frogpoints, the improvement which consists in providing a blank of the cross section of a railway rail with the head-portions of the blank at opposite sides thereof and the lower flange at one side thereof recessed between the ends of the blank, bending the blank at its reduced portion to cause its oil-portions to extend in outwardly dive. ging condition, forming a furrow along the upper surface of the structure at the joint between opposing head-portions of the blank, and thereafter welding the structure along said furrow With a material more resistant to the forces to which the frog-point is subjected in use, than the material composing the blank from which the frog-point is formed.

5. In the art of manufacturing frogpoints, the improvement which consists in providing a blank of the cross-section of a railway-rail laterally recessed between its ends, bending the blank at its reduced portion to cause its end-portions to extend in ontwardly-diverging condition, and deflecting inwardly the web-ptn'tions of the blank adjacent its apex portion.

(3. In the art of manufacturing frogpoints. the improvement which consists in providing a blank of the cross section of a railway rail with the head-portions of the blank at opposite sides thereof and the lower flange at one side thereof recessed between the ends of the blank. bending the blank at its reduced portion to cause its end-portions to extend in outwardly diverging condition, and deflecting inwardly the web-portions of the blank adjacent its apex portion.

7. In the art of manufacturing frogpoints, the improvement which consists in providinga blank of the cross section of a railway rail with the head-portions of the blank at opposite sides thereof and the lower flange at one side thereof recessed between the ends of the blank, bending the blank at its reduced portion to cause its endportions to extend in mitwardly diverging condition, and deflecting inwardly the entire body of the blank at opposite sides thereof at points adjacent the apex portion thereof.

8. In the art of manufacturing frogpoints. the improvement which consists in providing a blank of the cross section of a railway rail with the head-portions of the blank at opposite sides thereof and the lower flange at one side thereof recessed between the ends of the blank, bending the blank at its reduced portion to cause its end-portions to extend in outwardly diverging condition and deflecting inwardly the web-portions of the blank adjacent its apex portion, and thereafter uniting, as by welding, the opposing portions at the head of the blank adjacent the apex portion of the structure.

9. In the art of manufacturing frogpoints, the improvement which consists in providing a blank of the cross section of a railway rail and of such form that .if the blank were bent, at a point between its ends. to a position in which the ends thereof ex tend divergingly and the side edges of the opposed portions of the flange of the blank contact. such contact would occur only at a point remote from the extrenlity of the apes. portion of the blank, thereafter bending the blank into a position in which its ends diverge, and deforming the end-portions of the blank by deflecting the latter at both sides thereof at points between its ends to a position in which the opposed portions of the flange and head of the blank will extend substantially parallel and the web-portions will diverge at a lesser angle adjacent the apex portion than at points therebeyond and shaping the apex portion of the rail.

HERMAN H. DIEHL. 

